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Ikr? Same with HotBot, and InfoSpace and Lycos and Metacrawler and WebCrawler and Dogpile and Looksmart and so on...

I get these confused ALL THE TIME with Google!

Everyone knows http://www.webcrawler.com/ is the oldest & fastest search engine!

Pffft. Lycos FTW.

(Anyone know why a search engine named after a family of spiders is apparently now using a dog as its logo?)

I don't see this monopoly (virtual or otherwise) in search that you are talking about. Care to provide examples?

In that case, allow me.
This is just a small sample of how wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong and hella wrong you are.

That list is far from complete, and is mostly USA-centric. In other countries, not only are there more search providers, but Google does not even rank in the top lists. Or just look at China, where Google is made fun of similar to AOL is in the US today.

If that is what you label a monopoly, I really want to know what you call companies like Microsoft regarding desktop operating systems - or the phone company - or patents/copyrights for that matter.

The problem is, hiring high-school interns to categorize the web doesn't scale. The first good search engine to come along ate their lunch. Yahoo is a tech company with no technology to offer. I'm surprised that they made it this far by imitating and acquiring other companies. But hey, excite.com and lycos.com still exist, so maybe it's possible for Yahoo to just coast along forever.

TRIPOD has a free subscription but it doesn't include FTP either. http://www.tripod.lycos.com/web-hosting/compare_plans.pl

Monthly $4.95 Yearly $54.45

Citizen's Political Power in the U.S.

Sonny, I remember the days when we had to manually type in http://www.altavista.com/ or http://www.lycos.com/ into our browsers to get to a search engine. We had to use our keyboards and everything! Then the search engine took a long time and returned bad results... and we liked it!

These newfangled search bars, they're the devil's work I tell ya.

Newbie! It used to be http://altavista.digital.com

Sonny, I remember the days when we had to manually type in http://www.altavista.com/ or http://www.lycos.com/ into our browsers to get to a search engine. We had to use our keyboards and everything! Then the search engine took a long time and returned bad results... and we liked it!

These newfangled search bars, they're the devil's work I tell ya.

Mysite (owned by Netzero) and Google Sites are among the living and well. Tripod still clings to life, but who knows for how much longer.

I recall the early lycos search business model -- you'd get 40 or free searches, then a subscription was 'required' (not really, but it was supposed to be required). I can specifically recall goofing off in my IT hardware support role searching and downloading DOOM *.wad files for late night fraggage. There was no /. then, sadly, there was only DOOM and Efnet.

Altavista seemed to get replaced by google, in rather short order. I can't recall a specific reason I stopped using it, unless it was related to the repeated sale/reorg of DEC -> Compaq -> HP. I remember the news spreading about altavista hacked in '97 and '01 (the pr0n).

Maybe I'll use that webcrawler search thingy to look this stuff up. Maybe I should go back to work instead.

Wondoer no more.

I use Wikipedia to answer this simple question: who/what the fuck is x? If people start deleting articles just because they think x isn't important enough, how am I supposed to find out what x is, even if nobody really cares about x?

Lycos and Ask use sponsored results that are harder to differentiate from normal ones because they don't use a different colored background. Ebay even allows sellers to pay to be at the top, but they also name them Featured Items and put them in their own area.

Once again, they're all free services. Go out and create a perfect search engine and charge people to use it, or you can use Excite, which doesn't appear to use featured or paid search results.

Of course I'm kidding, we should sue the people that sue Google.

...i bet the 30day provision was buried in the eula, which lycos bets no one reads...

Note: The content of a Lycos Mail Basic account will be deleted if the owner does not login and check the account at least once every 30 days.

I call shenanigans.

From her own writeup (google cache) she admits that she'd been using the service less and less. From the sounds of it, she hadn't been using it at all. But she was dumb enough not to forward her uberimportant emails to another account.
And then, looking at the way her email quotes are cut, I think there was a lot more there that she chose not to share with us.

Having been in the managers position before, I think he was harsh, but she's spinning this to make him look like a dick. She probably demanded to talk to the highest ranking C*O in the state. He didn't say "I'm the highest", he said "I'm the highest that you will be talking to", and I've said the same thing (in different words).

I have the feeling that Lycos tried to explain to her, patiently, that her account had been deleted in line with the terms of service (and the disclaimer on their homepage), and that restorations were only offered to people who were Plus (or Premium or whatever the fudge it was), and she went off the handle, accused them of "holding her emails hostage", used bad language, and got all snotty with them. At that point, they probably didn't want her business, I wouldn't either.

The bottom line, is she did not log in within 30 days, as the homepage clearly says you have to do if you want to keep your account. Lycos told her what she had to do if she wanted her email back, she decided she didn't want to do it, said some bad things to them, and so they decided to tell her to go fuck herself. I say, good on ya, Lycos. Yes, customers deserve to be treated with respect, but it's gone too far in some cases, where privileged little fuckwads think they deserve everything they want, and anyone who says otherwise is mean, mean, mean. I think it's crappy that she's calling this guy out, selectively editing the conversation to make them seem like dicks, and especially crappy if it's true that people are starting to harass him.

Were I him, I'd post the ENTIRE email chain online, not just her edited version... and lets see how sweet and innocent she really is.

I have mixed feelings too, but in the end I actually find Mr. Jandreau's comments refreshingly straightforward. It saves his folks and Whitney from wasting any more of their time. Let's rewrite his comments:

'This request is not being worked on. There are no further points of escalation. You think our terms of service aren't clear, but we've looked at them again, and they are, and furthermore, you're in violation of them. We are not playing an angle here to satisfy a hidden agenda; your mail is gone. End of story.'

Could he be a little more diplomatic? I suppose so. Is he abusive or lying? No, absolutely not.

Are the Mail Terms of Service clear? I think so, but don't take my word for it - they're at:

http://info.lycos.com/legal/mail_terms.html

In particular, the section on Account Inactivity is Real Clear:

[--------- Begin Excerpt---------]
8. Account Inactivity. Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
[--------- End Excerpt---------]

In this case, "an unpaid Lycos Mail account" refers to their basic, free service.

Additionally, the General Terms of Service (found at http://info.lycos.com/legal/legal.html ) say:

Before you register for a Lycos Mail account, you must read and agree to these Terms of Use and the Lycos Mail Terms of Service, including any future amendments.

[--------- Begin Excerpt---------]
Lycos offers subscription and unpaid versions of its electronic mail services. For users of the unpaid mail services, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to limit the amount of storage space available per user or to delete materials stored for an excessive period while the user's account has been inactive. Specifically, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account or Angelfire Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
[--------- End Excerpt---------]

The user is presented with both of these links as part of the sign-up process. I just signed up for an account (set the 30 day event timer *now*, 'cause I'm sure not putty any mail up there that I give a kentucky about :) ), and I saw the terms of service.

Admittedly, no-one reads the ToS - so let this be a lesson, when you're signing up for free shit, READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE. Read the Policy Privacy too - this is probably even more important in the long run. Incidentally, the Lycos Privacy Policy seemed pretty well written to me.

So, yeah, tough break Whitney - it is a drag to lose mail. But want Things to Go Your Way, that means reading stuff when you're agreeing to it, and learning and lesson and moving on when you get burned by your own actions.

I have mixed feelings too, but in the end I actually find Mr. Jandreau's comments refreshingly straightforward. It saves his folks and Whitney from wasting any more of their time. Let's rewrite his comments:

'This request is not being worked on. There are no further points of escalation. You think our terms of service aren't clear, but we've looked at them again, and they are, and furthermore, you're in violation of them. We are not playing an angle here to satisfy a hidden agenda; your mail is gone. End of story.'

Could he be a little more diplomatic? I suppose so. Is he abusive or lying? No, absolutely not.

Are the Mail Terms of Service clear? I think so, but don't take my word for it - they're at:

http://info.lycos.com/legal/mail_terms.html

In particular, the section on Account Inactivity is Real Clear:

[--------- Begin Excerpt---------]
8. Account Inactivity. Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
[--------- End Excerpt---------]

In this case, "an unpaid Lycos Mail account" refers to their basic, free service.

Additionally, the General Terms of Service (found at http://info.lycos.com/legal/legal.html ) say:

Before you register for a Lycos Mail account, you must read and agree to these Terms of Use and the Lycos Mail Terms of Service, including any future amendments.

[--------- Begin Excerpt---------]
Lycos offers subscription and unpaid versions of its electronic mail services. For users of the unpaid mail services, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to limit the amount of storage space available per user or to delete materials stored for an excessive period while the user's account has been inactive. Specifically, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account or Angelfire Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
[--------- End Excerpt---------]

The user is presented with both of these links as part of the sign-up process. I just signed up for an account (set the 30 day event timer *now*, 'cause I'm sure not putty any mail up there that I give a kentucky about :) ), and I saw the terms of service.

Admittedly, no-one reads the ToS - so let this be a lesson, when you're signing up for free shit, READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE. Read the Policy Privacy too - this is probably even more important in the long run. Incidentally, the Lycos Privacy Policy seemed pretty well written to me.

So, yeah, tough break Whitney - it is a drag to lose mail. But want Things to Go Your Way, that means reading stuff when you're agreeing to it, and learning and lesson and moving on when you get burned by your own actions.

I agree - I actually find Mr. Jandreau's comments refreshingly straightforward. It saves his folks and Whitney from wasting any more of their time. Let's rewrite his comments:

This request is not being worked on. There are no further points of escalation. You think our terms of service aren't clear, but we've looked at them again, and they are, and furthermore, you're in violation of them. We are not playing an angle here to satisfy a hidden agenda; your mail is gone. End of story.

Could he be a little more diplomatic. I suppose so. Is he abusive or lying? No, absolutely not.

Are the Mail Terms of Service clear? I think so, but don't take my word for it - they're at:

http://info.lycos.com/legal/mail_terms.html

In particular, the section on Account Inactivity is Real Clear:

--------- [Begin Excerpt---------]
8. Account Inactivity. Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
--------- [End Excerpt---------]

In this case, "and unpaid Lycos Mail account" refers to their basic, free service. There

Additionally, the General Terms of Service (found at http://info.lycos.com/legal/legal.html ) say:

Before you register for a Lycos Mail account, you must read and agree to these Terms of Use and the Lycos Mail Terms of Service, including any future amendments.

--------- [Begin Excerpt---------]
Lycos offers subscription and unpaid versions of its electronic mail services. For users of the unpaid mail services, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to limit the amount of storage space available per user or to delete materials stored for an excessive period while the user's account has been inactive. Specifically, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account or Angelfire Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
--------- [End Excerpt---------]

The user is presented with both of these links as part of the sign-up process. I just signed up for an account (set the 30 day event timer *now*, 'cause I'm sure not putty any mail up there that I give a kentucky about :) ), and I saw the terms of service.

Admittedly, no-one reads the ToS - so let this be a lesson, when you're signing up for free shit, READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE. Read the Policy Privacy too - this is probably even more important in the long run. Incidentally, the Lycos Privacy Policy seemed pretty well written to me.

So, yeah, tough break Whitney - it is a drag to lose mail. But want Things to Go Your Way, that means reading stuff when you're agreeing to it, and learning and lesson and moving on when you get burned by your own actions.

I agree - I actually find Mr. Jandreau's comments refreshingly straightforward. It saves his folks and Whitney from wasting any more of their time. Let's rewrite his comments:

This request is not being worked on. There are no further points of escalation. You think our terms of service aren't clear, but we've looked at them again, and they are, and furthermore, you're in violation of them. We are not playing an angle here to satisfy a hidden agenda; your mail is gone. End of story.

Could he be a little more diplomatic. I suppose so. Is he abusive or lying? No, absolutely not.

Are the Mail Terms of Service clear? I think so, but don't take my word for it - they're at:

http://info.lycos.com/legal/mail_terms.html

In particular, the section on Account Inactivity is Real Clear:

--------- [Begin Excerpt---------]
8. Account Inactivity. Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
--------- [End Excerpt---------]

In this case, "and unpaid Lycos Mail account" refers to their basic, free service. There

Additionally, the General Terms of Service (found at http://info.lycos.com/legal/legal.html ) say:

Before you register for a Lycos Mail account, you must read and agree to these Terms of Use and the Lycos Mail Terms of Service, including any future amendments.

--------- [Begin Excerpt---------]
Lycos offers subscription and unpaid versions of its electronic mail services. For users of the unpaid mail services, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to limit the amount of storage space available per user or to delete materials stored for an excessive period while the user's account has been inactive. Specifically, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account or Angelfire Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
--------- [End Excerpt---------]

The user is presented with both of these links as part of the sign-up process. I just signed up for an account (set the 30 day event timer *now*, 'cause I'm sure not putty any mail up there that I give a kentucky about :) ), and I saw the terms of service.

Admittedly, no-one reads the ToS - so let this be a lesson, when you're signing up for free shit, READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE. Read the Policy Privacy too - this is probably even more important in the long run. Incidentally, the Lycos Privacy Policy seemed pretty well written to me.

So, yeah, tough break Whitney - it is a drag to lose mail. But want Things to Go Your Way, that means reading stuff when you're agreeing to it, and learning and lesson and moving on when you get burned by your own actions.

I agree - I actually find Mr. Jandreau's comments refreshingly straightforward. It saves his folks and Whitney from wasting any more of their time. Let's rewrite his comments:

This request is not being worked on. There are no further points of escalation. You think our terms of service aren't clear, but we've looked at them again, and they are, and furthermore, you're in violation of them. We are not playing an angle here to satisfy a hidden agenda; your mail is gone. End of story.

Could he be a little more diplomatic. I suppose so. Is he abusive or lying? No, absolutely not.

Are the Mail Terms of Service clear? I think so, but don't take my word for it - they're at:

http://info.lycos.com/legal/mail_terms.html

In particular, the section on Account Inactivity is Real Clear:

--------- [Begin Excerpt---------]
8. Account Inactivity. Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
--------- [End Excerpt---------]

In this case, "and unpaid Lycos Mail account" refers to their basic, free service. There

Additionally, the General Terms of Service (found at http://info.lycos.com/legal/legal.html ) say:

Before you register for a Lycos Mail account, you must read and agree to these Terms of Use and the Lycos Mail Terms of Service, including any future amendments.

--------- [Begin Excerpt---------]
Lycos offers subscription and unpaid versions of its electronic mail services. For users of the unpaid mail services, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to limit the amount of storage space available per user or to delete materials stored for an excessive period while the user's account has been inactive. Specifically, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account or Angelfire Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
--------- [End Excerpt---------]

The user is presented with both of these links as part of the sign-up process. I just signed up for an account (set the 30 day event timer *now*, 'cause I'm sure not putty any mail up there that I give a kentucky about :) ), and I saw the terms of service.

Admittedly, no-one reads the ToS - so let this be a lesson, when you're signing up for free shit, READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE. Read the Policy Privacy too - this is probably even more important in the long run. Incidentally, the Lycos Privacy Policy seemed pretty well written to me.

So, yeah, tough break Whitney - it is a drag to lose mail. But want Things to Go Your Way, that means reading stuff when you're agreeing to it, and learning and lesson and moving on when you get burned by your own actions.

I agree - I actually find Mr. Jandreau's comments refreshingly straightforward. It saves his folks and Whitney from wasting any more of their time. Let's rewrite his comments:

This request is not being worked on. There are no further points of escalation. You think our terms of service aren't clear, but we've looked at them again, and they are, and furthermore, you're in violation of them. We are not playing an angle here to satisfy a hidden agenda; your mail is gone. End of story.

Could he be a little more diplomatic. I suppose so. Is he abusive or lying? No, absolutely not.

Are the Mail Terms of Service clear? I think so, but don't take my word for it - they're at:

http://info.lycos.com/legal/mail_terms.html

In particular, the section on Account Inactivity is Real Clear:

--------- [Begin Excerpt---------]
8. Account Inactivity. Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
--------- [End Excerpt---------]

In this case, "and unpaid Lycos Mail account" refers to their basic, free service. There

Additionally, the General Terms of Service (found at http://info.lycos.com/legal/legal.html ) say:

Before you register for a Lycos Mail account, you must read and agree to these Terms of Use and the Lycos Mail Terms of Service, including any future amendments.

--------- [Begin Excerpt---------]
Lycos offers subscription and unpaid versions of its electronic mail services. For users of the unpaid mail services, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to limit the amount of storage space available per user or to delete materials stored for an excessive period while the user's account has been inactive. Specifically, Lycos reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to delete any materials (including emails) stored in connection with an unpaid Lycos Mail account or Angelfire Mail account if the user's account has been inactive for thirty (30) days.
--------- [End Excerpt---------]

The user is presented with both of these links as part of the sign-up process. I just signed up for an account (set the 30 day event timer *now*, 'cause I'm sure not putty any mail up there that I give a kentucky about :) ), and I saw the terms of service.

Admittedly, no-one reads the ToS - so let this be a lesson, when you're signing up for free shit, READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE. Read the Policy Privacy too - this is probably even more important in the long run. Incidentally, the Lycos Privacy Policy seemed pretty well written to me.

So, yeah, tough break Whitney - it is a drag to lose mail. But want Things to Go Your Way, that means reading stuff when you're agreeing to it, and learning and lesson and moving on when you get burned by your own actions.

Worried about all that activation crap? Unplug your Windows box from the net! I did, and you can too.

Here's whatcha do.

• Disconnect the Winbox from the net. Yank the damn cable right out of there.
• Load VMWare on your Winbox.
• Buy a USB to network converter, like this one.
• Do not install the driver for it on your Winbox!
• Make a Windows VMWare image. Back it up.
• Run that.
• When it's running, move the unidentified USB device to the VMWare image.
• Install the driver on the VMWare image.
• Whenever you need network access, just run that image. If it gets pWn3d (by hackers or MS genuine advantage or whatever), just overwrite it with your backup image.

Doesn't really work for online gaming yet, but it will just as soon as the guys at VMWare fully support DX9.

Enjoy!

Compare http://www.google.com/ to http://www.lycos.com./ Google realized early on that to win in the searching business, all you need to do is search really well. As long as I still have to scroll my browser page to see everything on a search site's front page, that search site is too complicated. Having a simple main page lets users set it to their home page with negligible impact to their browser's startup time; that really matters more than some people think.

AltaVista got the message, but they're still playing catch-up.

The Top-10 Alternatives to "I googled it" (note the lower-case 'g'):

• 10 "I AltaVista'd it" (potential ad campaign: "Hasta la vista, Google!")
• 9 "I Yahoo!'d it" (Good luck with that lawsuit; it's been in the official motto of several states for decades!)
• 8 "I Asked it" (AKA "I just axed it", since they "axed" poor Jeeves...)
• 7 "I HotBot'd it" (She's not all that hot these days...)
• 6 "I WebCrawler'd it" (Crawl being the operative word; no speed records broken here!)
• 5 "I Accoona'd it" (Possibly illegal to admit in several states)
• 4 "I Lycos'd it" (Not to be confused with "I Pecos'd it" from the 1950's...)
• 3 "I Netscaped it" (That's netscaped not netscraped)
• 2 "I AOL'd it" (Roughly analogous to "I screwed it up")

• 1 "I Dogpile'd it" (Imagine Cartman in the "red rocket" scene...)

And before you go running off to make a patent, white papers exist on the internet dating back to 1990 on using One Time Pads for internet/computer authentication mechanisms. And the fact that I wrote all this up here also serves as prior art.

This is laughable. You are trying to use the only perfectly secure encryption scheme, while breaking the rules which allow it to be the only perfectly secure encryption scheme.

So your mechanism is only as secure as the weakest parts, which in this case is plain text email or maybe SSL encrypted email, in which case, just use SSL and have the user provide their own strong password. You are getting NO GAIN for something which is MORE of a PAIN.

BTW, specifically in regards to GSM mobile phones (I don't know about others), GSM phone crypto uses a small Linear Feedback Shift Register configuration (40bit equivalent) for Pseudo Random Number Generation. To make matters worse, it is seeded (partially or fully?) with the IMEI number of that phone. IMEI numbers can be broken down a great deal if you know the make of the phone and then more if you know the model. The bit depth of IMEI suddenly drops. In 1999 GSM could be cracked in less than a second on a basic home PC. In addition to that, I personally know of a GSM eavesdropping/recording device being used outside of government/law-enforcement and I also know of someone who makes a similar device which is separate from the other I have mentioned. GSM at least, can hardly be considered to be providing strong comms. GSM crypto only "protects" the wireless link between the mobile phone and base station, NOT the wired link between cells or landlines, etc, so you trust your Telco? BTW, do you trust the French? This is their crypto scheme (A5) and they intentionally made it weak. Germany, try as they might, being so close the then Soviet Union, wanted it to be strong. The fact is, most governments don't want their people having strong crypto and you are essentially providing nothing.

Why bother? You are taking the strengths of OTP, weakening them to something ranging from plain text to strengths we already have (SSL) and yet you are keeping the impracticalities of OTP. I have to wait to have my password broadcast to the World before I can log in? What exactly are you providing again?

Really, why bother?

Hate to make a plug for myself but I came up with a one time pad authentication method for logging into websites. It's as secure as can be socially accepted. Key words there.

Every single time, in the past 11 years or so that I've been into crypto and crypto forums, that I heard someone say something like, "I think I have a good scheme", it has turned out to be a complete joke. I now get a chuckle whenever I read something like that, before I go on and read the "good scheme". So thank you for the chuckle. By the way, you can't have prior art when someone before you has it. It's not yours, it's thiers. Even if it does suck.

• Google recommends: Altavista
• MSN recommends: Search.com
• Yahoo recommends: Yahoo
• Ask.com recommends: Ask.com
• Altavista recommends: Search.com
• Search.com recommends: Dogpile
• Dogpile recommends: Lycos
• Lycos recommends: Ask.com

Nobody at all recommends Google. More proof that Google search is not as good.

You have never poked a penguin then?

"Sony Reports $533M 4Q Group Net Loss
E-mail or Print this story

27 April 2005, 5:39pm ET

By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer
TOKYO (AP) -- Sony Corp. on Wednesday reported a higher fourth-quarter loss than a year ago, with slumping sales and restructuring costs continuing to hurt its bottom line.

The electronics and entertainment company had a net loss of $533 million for the fourth quarter, compared with a loss one year earlier of $352 million.

Tokyo-based Sony said sales shrank 4.2 percent to $16 billion from $16.7 billion for the same quarter last year.

Famous worldwide for the Walkman music player and PlayStation 2 video-game console, Sony has been fighting competition in consumer electronics from Asian manufacturers who producer cheaper goods. The company has also fallen behind Apple Computer Inc., whose iPod is an international hit.

Sony's turnaround attempts include the ouster of longtime chief executive Nobuyuki Idei, who was replaced by Sony Pictures boss Howard Stringer last month. Stringer, a former television executive who holds dual British and U.S. citizenship, is expected to announce his strategy for reviving the company soon.

Mark Lanyon, an industry analyst with Morningstar, predicted that Stringer's plan would include layoffs, a strategy Japanese executives have avoided.

"The comeback attempts are limping along," Lanyon said. "Sony has a lot of structural deficiencies because of such things as its insistence on domestic labor and manufacturing facilities, which make it hard for them to compete."

Sales declined during the quarter in mobile phones, portable music players and old-style TV sets, although they were up in flat-panel and rear-projection televisions. The launch of the PlayStation Portable, the handheld video-game machine, helped boost sales in Sony's game operations, the company said.

Shipments of the PlayStation Portable, which went on sale late last year in Japan and earlier this year in the United States, totaled 2.97 million worldwide. Sony said it hopes to reach global PlayStation Portable shipments of 12 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006.

In the music segment, sales decreased due to the creation of Sony BMG, a joint venture formed by Sony and Bertelsmann AG. Its performance has been reflected under equity in net income since August 2004.

Sales also decreased in Sony's movies business.

Still, profits at Sony improved for the full fiscal year ended March 31. Group net profit totaled $1.5 billion, nearly double the profit for the previous year. Sales dipped 4.5 percent to $67.6 billion from $69 billion.

For the year through March 2006, Sony expects group net profit to fall 51 percent to $755 million, while sales are forecast to edge up 4 percent to $70 billion.

Sony, which booked $849 million in restructuring-related charges last fiscal year, plans to book another $680 million in such costs for the current fiscal year.

Sony shares, which have fluctuated over the last year to be little changed from a year ago, closed up 2 percent at $38 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange shortly before earnings were announced. "

CLICK HERE

Since you're implying that rather than using a search engine, and you're just going to blindly type in the company name with a .com at the end to find their website, how then would you ever find this theoretical BosleyMedicalSucks.com?

That is the point, you wouldn't. He's putting this out where a lot of people will see it. It's not deceitful. It doesn't purport to be controlled/owned by Bosley Medical, or is a competitor in disguise.

Lastly, since we've covered you're not being defrauded, I don't recall seeing a "right to find commercial websites easily" in the Constitution.

According to this story, NBC Universal is looking to buy out Microsoft.

That business model worked wonders for SCO...

mmm to be a monopoly and its perks

Yeah, because no other search engines exist.

Finkployd

Last time I checked there was still:

Yahoo!
Altavista
a9
Ask Jeeves
Lycos
Teoma

...and even:

MSN

Have a reality check; Google is far from a monopoly. They may be the most popular but that's quite different than being a 2 time convicted monopolist.

The latest idea to fight spam comes from www.makelovenotspam.com (browser flash-plugin needed) and LYCOS, who offer a simple screen-saver program for the Windows (english), Macintosh (MacosX (english) and Macos9 (english)) in various languages (english, french, spanish, german,...) which actually surfs the promoted URLs inside spams and generates traffic for the website owners, thus generating costs for the sources of spam, and trying to slow down those sites. The screen-saver promises to only generate about 3megabytes of traffic a day when being used constantly for 24 hours 100% a day. Can we call this a new means of self-justice, or is this a legal means of making spammers pay for their trash they keep sending us? You cannot actually call it DDOSing those sites as each screen-saver only generates a few http-get requests from time to time, and visually displays the spam-servers on a world-map.

The company actually delivers the live real-time spam information via XML files.

I wonder if anybody before got this idea, actually to collect the spam urls and shit inside spams, so that maybe someone could share this data through similar means to a big community (like slashdot), and making thos spammer websites fear a slashdot-like effect on their services with the help for example of a mozilla extension plugin or other nice little scripts and automatism?

Interesting questions and discussions come up, as lot of people ask if this could get Lycos or the actual users of the screen-savers into trouble? Can this be defended by our free-seech, 1st ammendment and other basic democracy laws or other means? Do you think all this is justified? What other solutions could there be for spam at all?

At leat i think that simple filitering and disregarding of such a huge problem doesnt solve anything at all, and i think i am not that mistaken, as spam hasnt really slowed down, or stopped just because of filtering, but spammers try to send even more sophisticated spam and scam, and just migrate over to other fields of endeavor like instant messaging clients, blogs and all that other stuff. So we actually need to tackle the whole problem on the very other end of the place, at the sites, services and products that come advertised in the spams.

I could think of a simple XML service maybe something calld "DSUX" (for: download spam urls xtensively) or some similar service :)

Any comments?

I just wish that they would use the wacky gentoo penguin rather than the 'g' logo.

Speaking of the wacky gentoo penguin. Does anyone else find it strangely similar to this?

I just setup another machine with Firefox 1.0 for the firs time (Windows 2000, previously had IE 6 only) and when the popup notice came, it had the option for me to don't notify me. When I did that, a dialog box came up and said that an icon would appear in the corner when a popup was blocked. Sure enough, when I load a page that reliably tries to bring a popup window, http://mail.lycos.com/, the icon appears in the lower right corner.

Too bad the EU and Airbus just hate it enough how Boeing used to subsidize its commercial aircraft development with its government contracts.

Used to? I think the problem Airbus has is that they do (present tense).

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporat enews/2004-08-26-boeing-contract_x.htm

But the EU has all sorts of other sweet deals with Airbus that, if Boeing tried to get from the US, Airbus would be crying stinking Grey Poupon foul in the WTO courts.

Aside from starting a sentence wih but, the other mistake you make in trying to construct an argument is simply supplying facts, you'll need to cite sources.

The truth is that the EU has infact said it will cut subsidies to Airbus IF the US cuts the indirect subsidies to Boeing through government contracts. Despite the retoric spewing forth at election time what the EU is doing, they are doing under a trade agreement with the US. They're also prohibited from providing subsidies for construction, but Boeing just got 3.2 BILLION from Washington state as an insentive to build a plant there. That sounds like construction.

Not to mention alegations about the government subsedies in Japan. Which arn't an American problem, but are a Boeing problem.

http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?symbol s=NYSE:BA&story=200408311926_APO_V2984

because of the companies integrity.

Try alternatives: Vivisimo which offers clustered searching (quite nice, actually), or or Lycos old, but still working, or any number of other search engines. I like Google's functionality, I like many of their extra features. I will be writing to Google, asking them to stop aiding the Chinese government in its abuse of the Chinese people. I will also be trying to avoid Google, because I *do* think that their integrity is gone, and I do not think that I can trust their results anymore.

What if people want a bit of art to go with their tunes?

I personally think that media apps deserve to look as good as their physical counterparts.

You can get some nice skins for GTK, QT, and the rest, but they DO need to be functional and easy to use.

The Media player is going to be as easy to use with or without its skin, it's not like the buttons disappear.

I'm not sure they are really all that profitable, except for the cash influx from selling the CD burning part. I'm not a financial type by any means, but I think they are damned whether they sell off or not. Here's the stock quote for Roxio

Our Culture - What Do We Do? Lycos is the most exciting online service in existence. Combining elements of navigation, community and commerce, we forge speedily ahead in our goal to become the most visited online destination in the world. Lycos gains our followers the old fashioned way...we earn them. Our interactive products and an unmatched customer focus guarantee us a spot at the zenith of the World Wide Web. One quick browse through our high octane site yields access to literally everything that makes the information age great. Join Lycos and secure yourself a place in the future of the Internet.

<a href="http://www.lycos.com">Lycos</a>
<a href="http://www.altavista.com">Altavista</a>
etc .

Lycos
Altavista
etc.

-especially growth companies.

If the company management is competent, re-investing the profits back into the company to improve growth or profitability is a better use of the money, as it will increase shareholder value more than the simple payment of dividends => you'll make more money in the long run. If they're not competent, then payment of dividends just takes more money out of the company when it needs it to survive.

Read Warren Buffett's letters (1977-2003)
in the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Reports, or at least "Buffettology", by his son's ex-wife, Mary Buffett. Also read his BH Owner's Manual. This material constitutes an excellent education in long term investing.

Buffett generally disagrees with dividend payouts. According to Buffettology he believes that by paying dividends, the company is telling investors that there are better places to invest their money than in this company. If the management does not believe in their own competence, then neither should investors.

ALL stockholders are speculators. It's just a matter of time. Buffett is one of the pre-eminent buy-and-hold advocates. Much of his fortune was made by keeping stocks in Coca-Cola, Disney and others bought low in the 1960's. His strategy has, of course, made him the second richest man in America (not sure about this year), and the only billionaire in the US who made his money entirely in the stock market (as of several years ago - still true?) Buffettology has a summary of his success, starting out with $5000 of his own money and $5000 each from several other friends (20 of them?) in the late 1950's IIRC. That's like $100,000 each now, I suppose.

Shares in BH are now $89,900 each. The five year chart shows a dip to $40,000/share in 2000. (BH never splits.)

According to Buffettology, his strategy is to identify companies that will 'own' the market 10 or 15 years in the future - they have a 'franchise' (like Coca-Cola - the brand is forever, regardless of economic downturns), or are a tollbridge (he doesn't do high tech, but Cisco is certainly a candidate, as nearly every packet on the internet goes over a Cisco router at some point). Good, long term management is a requirement as well. He figures out the probable value of the company based on projected revenues 10+ years hence. Then, using bond interest rates over the 10 years, he backs back out the net present value of the company today. He buys the stock (actually nowadays he just buys the company) when the actual price is below the NPV price.

Up till now anyway, he hasn't bought tech stocks because he "doesn't understand tech" - a wise position, even if one is deep in the tech business. Berkshire Hathaway had a big drop (see chart, linked above) during the dotcom boom, as the great unwashed nattered on about the "new economy" and laughed at his "obsolete methods". Had I any cash then, I would have bought BH. His approach has been vindicated, needless to say.

The difficulty is figuring out MS' (or any tech stock's) value in 10 years, which seems just about impossible. Certainly they are a tollbridge - anyone who makes software or hardware for

-especially growth companies.

If the company management is competent, re-investing the profits back into the company to improve growth or profitability is a better use of the money, as it will increase shareholder value more than the simple payment of dividends => you'll make more money in the long run. If they're not competent, then payment of dividends just takes more money out of the company when it needs it to survive.

Read Warren Buffett's letters (1977-2003)
in the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Reports, or at least "Buffettology", by his son's ex-wife, Mary Buffett. Also read his BH Owner's Manual. This material constitutes an excellent education in long term investing.

Buffett generally disagrees with dividend payouts. According to Buffettology he believes that by paying dividends, the company is telling investors that there are better places to invest their money than in this company. If the management does not believe in their own competence, then neither should investors.

ALL stockholders are speculators. It's just a matter of time. Buffett is one of the pre-eminent buy-and-hold advocates. Much of his fortune was made by keeping stocks in Coca-Cola, Disney and others bought low in the 1960's. His strategy has, of course, made him the second richest man in America (not sure about this year), and the only billionaire in the US who made his money entirely in the stock market (as of several years ago - still true?) Buffettology has a summary of his success, starting out with $5000 of his own money and $5000 each from several other friends (20 of them?) in the late 1950's IIRC. That's like $100,000 each now, I suppose.

Shares in BH are now $89,900 each. The five year chart shows a dip to $40,000/share in 2000. (BH never splits.)

According to Buffettology, his strategy is to identify companies that will 'own' the market 10 or 15 years in the future - they have a 'franchise' (like Coca-Cola - the brand is forever, regardless of economic downturns), or are a tollbridge (he doesn't do high tech, but Cisco is certainly a candidate, as nearly every packet on the internet goes over a Cisco router at some point). Good, long term management is a requirement as well. He figures out the probable value of the company based on projected revenues 10+ years hence. Then, using bond interest rates over the 10 years, he backs back out the net present value of the company today. He buys the stock (actually nowadays he just buys the company) when the actual price is below the NPV price.

Up till now anyway, he hasn't bought tech stocks because he "doesn't understand tech" - a wise position, even if one is deep in the tech business. Berkshire Hathaway had a big drop (see chart, linked above) during the dotcom boom, as the great unwashed nattered on about the "new economy" and laughed at his "obsolete methods". Had I any cash then, I would have bought BH. His approach has been vindicated, needless to say.

The difficulty is figuring out MS' (or any tech stock's) value in 10 years, which seems just about impossible. Certainly they are a tollbridge - anyone who makes software or hardware for

I read the Drudge Report. I get enough mail in my mailbox, and I hate always going out to get the mail, so the last thing that I want is paper periodicals. So I stick to internet.

His page has links to all different kind of news, some interesting, some important, and some just funny or weird. Its simple html with only two banners, and he often breaks news of his own.

In fact, it was Drudge who first leaked the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He found that before any other huge newspaper!

The other thing I like about him is his "mission". He used to work for foxnews, and his editor scolded him once for showing some news that he did not get approval for first, so he said "I don't need approval for what I show on my own program, so I quit!" He turned to the internet as a basis to show what he wanted to show, with no censorship. And now it is a huge success; one of the most viewed and searched for (it is about 46th right now). I love supporting a success story like this on the internet. That is exactly what the Internet should be for.

Still trying to find the right FASB document that goes into further details.

Article from 18 June 2004

Unix Reference Guide

Unless you have a Unix machine sitting on your desktop, you're probably accessing it through telnet or a command-line shell.


I have had shamelessly lived on others' *nix boxes using X-Win32 and Cygwin/X for a long time

(Karma be damned; I am no better than an AC anyway)

According to research, the ISPs in question are Lycos for the US ISP (mentioned directly in the PDF a few times where he probably meant to x out) and Wanadoo (note in the PDF that their site was johannamuhle.mysite.xxxxx.com, and that Wanadoo hosts sites under that DNS).

Keep in mind that I could be wrong here, this is only from some quick research on Google.

There was an article in the NYTimes about NEC defrauding the federal E-rate program a few weeks ago. That article is gone but here
is an AP wire article on the same thing. You did the right thing and its possible if you weren't working for NEC something similar will happen to other companies that are doing the same thing. In fact the NY Times article mentioned that congress going to hold hearings on this issue,
so it is something that is being looked into quite seriously.

-bloo